a) Field of the Invention PA1 b) Description of the Prior Art
The present invention relates to a vehicle lamp having a tiltable reflector, and more particularly to a vehicle lamp having an improved sealing structure capable of providing a positive and effective sealing of a clearance likely to be between a base of a lamp bulb assembly fixed to the reflector within a housing and a connector for electrical connection to a car battery.
Various vehicle lamps having a tiltable reflector have so far been proposed, a typical one of which is disclosed in EP-A2-0300482, for example. The conventional vehicle lamp comprises a housing open at both the front and rear ends thereof, a front lens fixed over the front opening of the housing and defining a lamp bulb enclosure together with the housing, a reflector disposed tiltably inside the lamp bulb enclosure and having a rear opening located opposite to the rear opening of the housing, a lamp bulb assembly inserted through the rear opening of the housing and fixed in the rear opening of the reflector, a synthetic rubber-made waterproof cover provided to prevent water from coming into the lamp bulb enclosure and which consists of a cylindrical portion fitted on the base of the lamp bulb assembly and a flange portion fixed to the circumferential edge of the rear opening of the housing by means of a cover holder, and a connector for electrical connection to a car battery, which is projected out of the lamp bulb enclosure from the waterproof cover and fitted on terminals extending from the base of the lamp bulb assembly.
In the vehicle lamp with the tiltable reflector, the base of the lamp bulb assembly is projected out of the lamp bulb enclosure from the waterproof cover and the plurality of terminals extending from the base of the lamp bulb assembly are securely connected in a mechanical manner to the connector. However, a small clearance necessarily exists between the rear end face of the base of the lamp bulb assembly and the connector end face opposite to the rear end face. Thus, the terminals are partially exposed in the clearance. As the exposed portions of the terminals are repeatedly applied with water drops and dried, the terminals will possibly be corroded.